Political Fund Paying Some Sununu Bills

June 30, 1991|By New York Times News Service.

CONCORD, N.H. — Money from a $230,000 political fund left over from John H. Sununu`s tenure as governor of New Hampshire is helping cover his personal expenses as White House chief of staff, and payments from the fund have increased in the last eight months, public records show.

New Hampshire law allows money raised for state races, like Sununu`s for governor, to be used for the personal expenses of a candidate or a candidate`s family. When Sununu went to Washington in 1989, however, his aides said the balances in the fund would be used only for political purposes.

But now Sununu`s financial disclosure report shows that, with much of Sununu`s personal holdings of more than $1 million tied up in real estate, the New Hampshire fund, which is called the Sununu Committee, has been tapped.

A review of the Sununu Committee`s records, filed here with the New Hampshire secretary of state, shows that money from the fund began covering Sununu family expenses in July 1990, when a $3,768.00 check was drawn to the United States Treasury for ``travel and miscellaneous expenses.``

Since November, there have been another four such payments to the United States Treasury, totaling $3,232.

According to Sununu`s financial disclosure report, filed in May with the White House and released in June, the committee paid for a variety of political, personal, and official trips by Sununu or his family to Boston, Newark, New Hampshire, and Florida, among other places.

Officials said the committee`s disbursements were handled by Paul Collins Jr.

Collins, who was finance director of the committee when Sununu was governor, is now a special assistant to the president for political affairs.